Modern personal computers use complex graphical systems, with display tasks often being performed both by a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphical processing unit (GPU). While basic display tasks may be performed by the CPU, more complex graphical operations may be performed by the GPU with increased performance. Legacy applications however, such as the Netscape Plug-In Application Program Interface (NPAPI) may not be able to fully utilize the advanced graphics capabilities of the GPU. When the NPAPI is used in a modern web browser that uses a GPU to composite pages, such as GOGGLE CHROME, from Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., decreased performance can occur. When using the NPAPI to display translucent graphical objects that are displayed in a web-browser plug-in, the CPU must generally be supplied with a known background before rendering can occur. This requirement that the CPU wait for a background before rendering may cause latency in the display of certain graphical objects.
Another performance issue that can arise relating to CPU and GPU rendering involves the rendering of sub-pixel anti-aliased (SPAA) text over an unknown background. As with the display of plug-ins above, under traditional methods, SPAA text must be rendered over a known background, wherein if the background is not available SPAA processing can stall until the background is provided.
Accordingly, what is needed are new methods and apparatus for the composition of translucent graphical components and SPAA text over a background.